Beautiful spring day again today

This is such a lovely, pre-mosquito time. 

I love how Kate timed the flowers so that when one is finished there is another to provide color in its place.

Russia decided to shoot itself in the foot by cutting off gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria. The ruble is in the toilet. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina tried to quit after the invasion of Ukraine. Putin told her he could not resign. Her job is propping up the ruble no matter what draconian policies are required. One of the attempts is to make gas buyers pay in rubles. This violates sanctions and contracts. Bad news for Russia is it desperately needs the money, even more, perhaps, than Europe needs the gas. Poland says it is fully prepared for a cutoff of all energy supplies and was making plans to live without Russian gas even before the war. In fact, they've been working for a decade to avoid being in a situation where Moscow could hold it hostage. They have an LNG terminal that allows them to import from suppliers like Qatar and the US. Between that, local production, and a new Baltic Pipe to Norway, Poland doesn't need Russia. Greece will help Bulgaria with deliveries of LNG. 


Greece is also dependent on Russia for energy but, since the war began, has been working on diversifying its energy mix. Greece is in talks with Bulgaria to increase imports of electricity from Bulgarian nuclear plants. 


Germany says it can live off existing reserves until winter and is working on working on extending that. Germany is providing subsidies to help Germans offset higher energy costs. 


Spring is a dumb time to cut gas because, with the warmer weather, gas demand is in decline. Goldman Sachs said they expect the cutoffs to "have only a modest physical impact" on the European market. 


(None of this is my analysis, all of this is my combination of news from different sources.)


Putin's recently divorced daughter wanted to leave the country to celebrate her 37th birthday. Daddy said know because rumors had it she was going to flee Russia. She was divorced before Russia invaded Ukraine. Her ex is the son of a prominent NATO colonel. 


Ukraine is playing with Russian minds. There were explosions in three Russian regions bordering Ukraine. One was at an ammunition depot. No homes hit. No casualties. Ukrainians are taking credit for none of them. This way, every single explosion in Russia, even if it is due to Russian incompetence and lax standards, can be attributed to Ukraine and the specter of Ukraine can just keep growing. 

A man named Mykhailo Puryshev has a red van. He drove into Mariupol six times last month to evacuate citizens. His friends bought the bus for him. He repaired the van between trips because of course it was shelled and fired upon. When the war is over he's going to turn the van into a monument. 

Some people in Kyiv had a good time. There was a statue built to represent friendship and ties to Russia. They knocked of the statue heads and took power saws to the feet and then yanked it down to cheers.